Fields of Amaranth
by Kafoomph
Summary: After finding out her boyfriend has been cheating on her, Artemis finds support in the last place she expected to find herself- a flower shop of all places. Non-powered/Flower Shop AU, prompt from a really old tumblr post I can't find anymore (sorry! I will try to find it again). Hope you enjoy. Rated T for swearing.
1. Chapter 1

That fucking asshole! Cheating on her with Tuppence! Tuppence of all people. Asshole!

God bless Zatanna for giving her the heads up. Megan would have probably tried to make it out like some major misunderstanding. She saw the good in almost everyone, even that asshole Cameron.

Wait, they had a date planned tonight didn't they? Fuck. The last thing she needed was to see him when she was likely to commit manslaughter (no judge would convict her for murder she reckoned). She needed something to calm her down, something to distract her. Blindly pushing open a door- with much more force than what would ever be necessary- Artemis Crock found herself surrounded by wonderfully fragrant flowers. It soothed her for all of five seconds, until the thought that Cameron had never once bought her flowers hit home. She stood staring at some white flower she'd never seem before with a detached intensity, torn between wanting to hit something and wanting to cry.

After a moment she noticed a soft bell chiming just behind her, signalling the entrance or exit of another customer. To her left a voice softly asked, "Excuse me, do you need any help?"

A red headed boy, probably roughly her age, with vibrant green eyes had spoken. He regarded her with a mixture of amusement and a slight hint of anxiousness. "Or are you trying to set the Buckbrush on fire with only the power of your mind?"

Her anger flared. "Get bent."

"I'm a man working in a flower shop and you didn't immediately assume I was? Well thanks for giving me the choice. I'm straight by the way, although I suppose a particularly pretty man might sway me..."

Artemis was bewildered by his attitude and found herself bursting into laughter at this guy as he continued to ramble on, was he for real? Still giggling to herself she found herself saying, "No, don't go for the pretty ones, they're usually bad news."

"Ah I take it whoever made you decide to see if you had pyrokenisis was a pretty boy then?"

Nodding she had to ask, "Pyrokenisis?"

"Psychic manipulation of fire.", he explained with a shrug, as if it was something she should've known.

The conversation tailed off with an awkward pause as the two looked at anything other than the other person, all while sneaking glances of the other person from the corner of their eyes.

Eventually he broke the peace again. "So do you need anything or are you just wanting a few minutes?"

She forced a small smile and asked for a few minutes to herself, making a point of not watching as he made his way behind the counter. She glanced at the tiny white flower she'd previously been staring at before moving on to an assortment of roses. A small placard caught her eye, detailing the meanings behind each colour of rose. She glanced around and caught sight of another card, this one for a mix of pink, white and purplish Candy Tufts, giving it's meaning to be 'Indifference'. That struck her as odd, surely all flowers had sappy, sweet meanings right?

"Hey...", she called out, her hand gesturing with a rolling motion as if trying to place his name before she realised she didn't know it. "Is there any way to say 'Fuck you' in a flower?"

The grin he gave her was somewhat unhinged and on further consideration should probably have been illegal. Nevertheless she found herself grinning back as he pulled out a new notepad.

"And I thought today was going to be boring.", he said in a distracted tone, as if he didn't really mean to say it at all. "Can you pass me that bucket just by your hip, the one with the yellow carnations?"

"O..kay", she replied, passing the somewhat heavy bucket with ease. She watched in amusement as the guy flitted about the store with a speed that she'd only ever seen on her niece Lian the day she 'accidentally' given the 3 year old sugar. He grabbed her by her shoulders while she was lost in thought and spun her towards the counter where a selection of flower lay out for her approval. He grinned his manic grin again.

"First off, we have the yellow carnations, representing the meaning, 'You have disappointed me', a fair guess to make consider the guy made you angry enough to try to mentally combust this poor flower shop."

She shot him a guilty grin and nodded her approval for them to go into the bouquet.

"Secondly we'll have a nice cluster of Medowsweet, to highlight this guy's uselessness. We'll pepper them about here and there just to remind him he's been useless on a number of occasions."

Artemis's grin turned a little wry there, thinking of the times Cameron had let her down. He noticed the drop in her mood and moved on to the next flower.

"Now we'll add geraniums. The flower of stupidity."

"What, really?", she started, her head tipping as she considered this.

"Yeah. That's their meaning.", he nodded, glancing at the flowers

"But, my neighbour grows them. Those flower boxes that hang off the window ledge."

The sales guy shrugged. "Not many people know the meanings behind the flowers except for the big ones like white or red roses. And a lot of people don't care if it's a flower they particularly like."

She scrunched her nose up as she thought about it. "That's stupid."

"That's geraniums for you. Folk often associate flowers with particular things that are personal to them. To my mom, carnations are funeral flowers. So when I go, bright yellow carnations, everywhere. Just so I can disappoint her one last time.", he grinned. Artemis found it hard to smile back.

"That's kinda dark.", she muttered, crossing her arms.

"Chill beautiful. I'm not planning in going any time soon. I just like making terrible jokes."

"Well, that joke was 'terrible' all right."

He threw her another wild grin. "I know."

"You're not quite right, you know that?", she stated.

"I've been told.", he replied dismissively. "It doesn't bother me. Shall we continue on with these stupid flowers?"

"Huh, oh. Yeah, I guess.", Artemis replied, frowning a little.

"Great, so geraniums are in. How about adding some orange lilies? They stand for hatred."

"Those smell horrible. Throw them in."

"Careful with them. Lily pollen stains like bitch and if you have animals I wouldn't recommend getting them."

"No pets, only the dog I'm planning to break up with tonight."

He smiled softly at her. "Glad to hear it. My ex used to bring lilies in all the time and my dog took a really bad reaction to them. Cats are at higher risk I think, but yeah. If you have pets I'm not going to sell these to you."

Artemis nodded, not really sure what to say other than. "I always wanted a dog."

"Yeah, what kind?"

"Hadn't thought that far ahead. My mum has mobility issues, so training a pup was always out, and when I moved out pets weren't allowed in the building we were in."

"That's the worst, at least you didn't have to leave a dog behind when you moved." She was about to ask him about his dog when he cut her off. "So, we have Bird's-foot Trefoil and Foxglove left. The trefoil stands for revenge and the foxglove is for insincerity."

"Do you think the pink goes with the rest of it?", Artemis asked, eyeing the foxglove.

"Does it matter?", the guy asked, looking at the mess of flowers in front of him. "This is a bunch of 'fuck you' in a flower, surely if it makes his eyes bleed then it's even more of a win, right?"

She laughed and caught the look of the smug grin on the guys face. "Sure put them in."

"Hey, if it balances it out, I'll change some of the white geraniums with these red ones.", he conceded, holding up a very bright assortment of flowers.

She stuck her thumbs up in a super cheesy manner, mentally scoring a point for making him laugh. "Go for it."

He picked up the flowers and started to move behind the counter again. "I'll arrange these for you and be right back."

She smiled and glanced at some of the flowers while she waited before a very serious thought occurred to her. How was she supposed to pay for this? The ATM had eaten her card just as Zatanna had called about Cameron and she had, oh maybe twenty bucks to her name.

Before she could either have a full blown panic attack at her stupidity, or the preferable option b (run away), the guy can back from the stock room with a massive bouquet of flowers. Artemis was convinced her must of had super speed or something, because it didn't seem like any time at all had passed. The brilliant bouquet of loathing was deposited in front of her with a happy little thump and another mentally questionable smile from her sales assistant, whose smile never faltered even when her own did.

"I'm so sorry.", she started, flinching a little as his brows furrowed and he adopted a childishly adorable confused look. "I just realised I can't pay for these. The machine ate my card earlier and I hadn't actually intended coming in..."

He glanced at the bouquet and looked at her. "How much have you got?", he asked curiously.

Rifling through her pockets, Artemis pulled out the twenty she knew she had on her and a quarter. "I could give you twenty...", she trailed off awkwardly.

Ignoring her, he plucked the twenty and the quarter from her palm. The quarter found its way to a collection bucket in front of the register and the twenty was replaced with a crisp ten. He flashed her another smile and said, "Don't worry about it. This was the most fun I've had all day, it really isn't often enough people want hatred bouquets made up, it should totally be a thing- just saying. And if you really want to give this guy a message, what better way to do it than with ten dollar 'fuck you, buddy' flowers?" When he saw she was still going to argue with him he cut her off. "Please take them, if you're really that bothered about the cash just pay it forward or do something nice for someone else. I can easily cover the cost of a bouquet or two. I insist."

Sighing, Artemis conceded and put the ten back in her pocket. As she was shifting the bouquet in her arms she was distracted by another flash of colour. The guy's grin had turned sheepish and another bouquet of flowers was being handed to her. She looked at him in utter confusion and opened her mouth to speak, although nothing intelligent sounding came out.

"These are more of a gift, for you. Cause, you know, sometimes a girl just needs to get a bunch of flowers, especially if she's been having a bad day." The second bouquet was an assortment of pinkish and purple flowers, the only ones she recognised being the tulips, although the dark purple flowers she thought might be iris's. It was a lovely arrangement and she felt herself reaching for them automatically. A shy 'thank you' escaped her as she looked at the first bunch of flowers a guy had ever given her, and, now heavily laden down with flowers, she turned to leave. Just as she reached the door she called out over her shoulder, waving the smaller bouquet at the guy. "So what, these were a quarter?", she called out, a grin forming on her face. He snorted back.

"Nah, more of a souvenir."

Zatanna arrived at Artemis's apartment hoping that her friend hadn't totally trashed the place in a rage and that she could talk her friend out of murder and down to a muchmore sensible grievous bodily harm. Although the fact the apartment seemed deadly silent did little to encourage her. Chapping on the door, Zatanna called out, "Art? It's Zee. Can you let me in?" When there was no response Zatanna grew really worried. "Artemis? Art can you let me in?" Cursing quietly, Zatanna glared at the door before pulling a bobby pin from her pinned back dark locks and muttered to herself. "You'd better be okay Artemis."

"I'm fine Zee.", a voice came from behind her, causing the girl to jump. "Although I'd appreciate you not breaking into my apartment."

Spinning on her heels, the young woman came face to face with an obnoxiously bright bunch of flowers. Zee's heart sank.

"Please tell me those aren't from Cameron.", she blurted out, before slapping her hand over her mouth. To her ever growing surprise, and confusion, all Artemis did was laugh.

"No, these are for Cameron. Here, hold them while I get the door. I'll explain inside."

Once inside the two women stood in the kitchen, one admiring the mess of flowers while the other flitted around the kitchen fixing them both something to drink while trying to find something to place her small bouquet of flowers in. Eventually an old coffee jar was rinsed out and deemed good enough for the flowers and the two girls sat admiring the smaller, prettier bouquet. Zatanna broke the silence first.

"So. You bought flowers for Cameron...?"

"Yeah. Ten dollars, can you believe it.", Artemis enthused. Sparing a glance at the blindingly bright bouquet Zatanna privately thought ten dollars was probably more than it was worth.

"But why?"

Artemis's responding grin was somewhat unhinged looking. "That, my dear Zee, is ten dollars of 'Fuck you' in flower format." Artemis was pleased to see her friends confused expression morph into one of calculating glee. "So I'm giving them to Cameron at dinner tonight, because he's 'working late' again and needs to meet me at the restaurant, and then I'm breaking up with him."

Zee glanced at the flowers again. "You know he's not going to get that it's a 'fuck you' bouquet unless you describe it to him."

"And that's where I need your help. Do I explain what the flowers mean, or do I wait for him to give them to Tuppence?"

Zatanna's eyes lit up. "Art, that's so evil, were you a villain in another life? Oh, but how's Tuppence supposed to know the meanings behind the flowers?", Zee asked with a snap of her fingers.

"You know how's she's friends with Crystal and Louise Lincoln? Well they're getting married, and Louise has been going nuts looking up wedding stuff. Megan keeps bumping into them at wedding shows and whatever."

"And?"

"And the last ones they were at had a woman who was like a pro bridal bouquet builder. She has a shop somewhere in the city, I bet you they take the bouquet to her."

"And if they don't?"

Artemis shrugged. "Then I'm at least free of Cameron the cheat."

Zatanna glanced at the second set of flowers, proudly arranged in their hastily cleaned coffee jar, and slyly suggested, "And free to pursue other interests I'd guess."

Artemis followed her gaze with a soft smile. "Unlikely, he was sweet but totally weird, and a little annoying. Plus when's the next time I'm going to go to a flower shop.", she scoffed dismissively.

"Did he at least tell you what it means?", Zatanna asked, sounding slightly wistful. Artemis felt a little bad considering her friend was currently referring to the past year as 'the Great Drought' when it came to her love life.

"No. He just said that sometimes a girl needs to be given a bouquet of flowers. Told me it was a 'souvenir'." Zatanna humphed into her coffee before taking out her phone and snapping pictures of the arranged flowers. She waved the phone haughtily at her friend.

"You should care you know. It's not every day a girl gets flowers, certainly never as a 'souvenir'. And even if you don't care about the meaning, I want to know what it means."

Artemis swirled her coffee thoughtfully. "Zee, I know you'll find someone soon. We just need to broadened your search."

"To where? Ugh men are jerks, apart from your mystery flower boy. Was he cute?"

"Don't change the subject Zee.", Artemis warned.

"But mystery boys are so mysterious." Artemis rolled her eyes and left to get ready for the 'date'. "You're holding out on me Art.", Zatanna called out to the door Artemis had hidden herself behind. "I thought we were friends!" A muffled shush came from behind the door and Zatanna collapsed into peals of laughter.

The restaurant was fashionably crowded, and Artemis was kind of glad that Cameron was late again as their booked table still hadn't been cleared yet, some red headed girl was glaring at a dark haired man that looked vaguely familiar as he talked rapidly to someone on a cell phone. Artemis watched carefully as he turned more in her direction and seemed to say something that she couldn't quite catch, whatever it was the red head's scowl deepened and Artemis could tell that she was considering throwing her drink at the guy. Remembering another red head's suggestion of paying it forward, Artemis motioned to the bartender and asked for something sickeningly sweet to be sent over to the girl with the message of, 'Hey, don't waste a perfectly good drink on that guy- throw this one instead!', which the bartender just raised an eyebrow at. Huh, maybe flower guys insanity was contagious. The dark haired man on the cell frowned slightly as he noticed a drink being brought over for his date but was quickly distracted by his phone again.

It turned out to be his downfall.

The red hair stared in confusion at the drink, then with more confusion at the girl who'd sent it over before the waiter slipped her the napkin. The confusion turned to puzzlement, then to a malicious glee that was completely missed by cell phone guy. Honestly, he didn't even notice when she stood up.

He did notice however when the stupidly large amount of sugary alcohol was dumped over his head. The restaurant fell quiet as the guy exclaimed, "Babs, what the hell!"

To which the red headed girl replied, "I've been wanting to do that all night, I just didn't want to waste a perfectly good drink on you."

The man spluttered incoherently for a second before saying into his phone, "Listen I need to call you back."

But the woman cut in, "Don't bother Dick. We're done here. I'll call you if I need to."

"Babs, don't be like that. C'mon Babs..."

But the red head ignored him and made her way to the bar, finding a spot beside Artemis who was trying, and failing, not to laugh.

"Thanks for the save.", the girl, Babs, said quietly enough for the blonde to hear.

Artemis smiled and murmured, "No problem.", before spotting Cameron finally entering the building. More to herself than the girl she was standing beside she spoke a little louder and a little more determinedly. "Right. My turn."

Artemis stalked towards the table that a waitress was hastily cleaning off and purposefully sat herself in the non-sticky chair. It wasn't like she'd thought ahead when she'd bought the drink for the red headed girl, but she was glad that straight off the bat Cameron would be having an uncomfortable time. She half noticed the girl, Babs, had hung around to watch and had the thought to keep an eye on her, but was distracted by a very flushed Cameron sitting down across from her. He didn't even lean in to kiss her hello, just parked himself down with a disgusted grimace when he felt the sticky wetness of the chair. His attention was very quickly drawn to the flowers Artemis had placed on the table before he arrived. Pointing to them with a smile he joked, "Should I be worried?"

Artemis blinked in surprise. Did he actually just make a joke about her getting a gift from another man? Granted she had a perfectly nice bouquet of flowers in her flat that was a gift, but that wasn't the same, was it? Oh who was he to judge considering he was fucking another woman!

"Actually they're for you.", Artemis finally said. "I had it made up to tell you how I feel about you. Did you know flowers have specific meanings?"

Cameron paused in his perusal of the menu. "Uh, I did not."

"I didn't either until earlier. Found it very interesting though."

"So you've been having a good day?", he asked, focused intently on the menu. "Cause I had an absolute killer. I swear Dad is pushing me extra hard because I'm his son. And my back is killing me today."

'Probably from all the fucking on the desk', Artemis snidely thought. But she allowed Cameron to ramble on a bitch about insignificant things as she zoned in and out of the conversation. She glanced away once when she noticed the red head, now joined by the dark haired guy, staring in their direction and shushing her companion.

"I can't do this.", she heard herself saying. Interrupting whatever diatribe Cameron was in the middle of.

He shot her a glare for interrupting, before snarkily asking, "What can't you do any more Artemis."

"This.", she gestured between the two of them. "Us. I can't do it any more Cameron."

His face quickly morphed from anger to bewilderment. "What do you mean, what's wrong?"

Artemis started to laugh. "How can you sit there and ask me what's wrong?"

That just pissed him off more. "I'm not fucking psychic Artemis! I won't know what's wrong until you tell me."

Briefly aware that most of the restaurant, not just the red head and her ex, was now watching, some of the waiters with horrified expression on their faces, expecting the worst. Artemis tried to calm herself.

"No, you're not fucking psychic Cameron.", Artemis concurred loudly, figuring she'd put on a show. "You're just fucking Tuppence."

His face dropped and he blurted out, "Who told you.", before realising that he should probably try denying the whole thing first. Artemis stopped paying attention to him and allowed herself to look at the flowers. Standing, still ignoring his pleading, she plucked a small sprig of the birds-foot trefoil, vaguely remembering this was the one the guy in the store represented revenge. Cameron allowed himself enough breath to ask what she was doing before going back to begging her to just sit down for them to talk this out.

Tucking it behind her ear she muttered at him with a glare and a motion towards the flowers, "Souvenir.", before making her way to the exit.

A loud woop from the bar- most likely the red head- with a very boisterous, "You tell him girl!", led to some of the other patrons clapping Artemis as she left. She felt embarrassed but elated at the same time. Now all she needed was to find someone to take to Megan's wedding with her. Fuck.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: I'm really sorry for the false starts for updating this story. I'm still getting used to the uploader on this site. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read this, and a huge thanks to everyone who has followed and favourited it.  
Short chapter here as I'm not even sure there should be more to this story.  
And in other news I found where this idea originally came from. It took sifting through 76 pages of tumblr but I found it! Original concept was by user: ****demisexualmerrill** **and the hate bouquet was built by:** **koscheiis**

 **–-~-**  
Zee had waited at home for her, left alone with the nice bouquet of flowers and google, and was full of giddy excitement when Artemis returned from her 'date'.

"First off, are you okay? How did it go?", the younger woman asked, high off of coffee and romantic notions.

"It went fine.", Artemis shrugged off. "Paid for another chick to dump a drink over her asshole boyfriend and then announced to the whole restaurant that my asshole ex had been sleeping with someone else."

Zatanna nodded. "I kind of already know. You went viral. The staff at the restaurant are calling the table cursed. Makes a good YouTube video though."

"How… How did that even go up so fast? It was only half an hour ago?"

"Oh, we need to watch it later, there's a great part that you missed."

"What on earth could I have possibly missed?"

"The part where Cameron is approached to pay the bill and he straight up says that he had been expecting you to pay it. He's banned from there now. He had to call his dad to pay off the dinner, and even then he only paid off his half."

Artemis blinked, surprisingly unsurprised at Cameron's pettiness. "My card got eaten, there's no way I could've paid.", she reasoned. But she still felt bad for the restaurant.

Zee waved it off. "Don't worry about it, your bill was footed by...", she pulled up a copy of the footage at the restaurant and pointed to the dark haired man Artemis had helped soak earlier. "This cup of tall dark and handsome, known to us lesser mortals as Richard Grayson."

"Who?"

"Richard Grayson? Gotham's sexiest bachelor now that his adoptive dad Bruce Wayne has tied the knot with his on again, off again, looks amazing in leather, wifey Selina Kyle?"

"You sound like a trashy magazine."

"This video proves you live like it though."

Artemis scowled. "It was nice of him to pick up the tab considering I broke him and his girlfriend up that night."

Zatanna shrugged it off. "He's super rich, I doubt it was anything to him."

"Anyway, it's done now."

"And now you're free to date about!", Zatanna finished for her.

"No."

"But flower guy...", the girl honest to God pouted.

"No. There's nothing happening with flower guy.", Artemis waved her hand at the flowers she'd so carefully carried home. "This doesn't mean there will be anything happening with flower guy."

There was a beat of silence as both girls looked at the flowers.

"Do you want to know what they mean?", Zatanna asked, looking to her friend for her reaction.

"No... Yes. I am slightly curious.", she admitted.

"How curious?"

"Like 30 percent." Zatanna sighed at her friends stubbornness.

"I don't know them all.", she said, taking care to point out each flower as she named them. "These Irises stand for Faith, so I'm guessing he was saying he had faith in you tonight. And Azaleas mean 'Take care of yourself for me', so he was wanting you to stay safe. I don't know the others. There's a couple of meanings for tulips, depending on the colour."

Artemis sighed, looking at the flowers. "Fine.", she ground out. "We'll take them to the florists, find out what they mean tomorrow, okay?"

Zatanna's childish cheers were worth the possible embarrassment of running into flower boy again.

 **–-~-**

Flower boy was, only slightly disappointingly, not at the flower shop the next day when the two women went in, carefully carrying one of each flower from the bouquet in Artemis' apartment. And Artemis wasn't going to ask where he was, not her, no way.

Instead a cheerful elderly woman sat behind the counter, humming non-committally over the sounds of someone moving things in the back room. At the sound of the chime from above the door, she had brightened and gave both girls a motherly smile. Zatanna bounced up to the counter brimming and presented the flowers they had carried so carefully.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, but can you tell us the meaning behind these flowers, they were in a bouquet given to my friend here.", Zatanna flourished towards Artemis in true showmanship style. The woman's smile widened a little as she took in the appearance of both girls, and Artemis was quick enough to see a flash of recognition when the woman looked at the flowers.

"Well, this would have made a lovely arrangement. Shame a few of these aren't usually stocked by florists.", the woman said, taking a closer look at the flowers, pointing at one closest to Artemis. "This one for example, that's garlic. It wouldn't be sold as a flower, which is a shame. It's actually quite pretty to look at. It stands for strength. Gillyflower stands for 'bonds of affection.", she indicated to another flower in the row.

"Iris's stand for faith, they're always such a pretty colour. And the Azalea's are 'take care of yourself for me'. A lovely sentiment. And finally you have the tulips."

Zee interrupted. "There's different meanings for the different colours, right?"

The women were interrupted by an elderly man, possibly the older woman's husband coming out from behind the back room. "Right Joan, that's the... Sorry ladies, I didn't see you there."

"Thanks Jay. These young woman came in to find out the meanings of these flowers. An interesting selection don't you think?"

Jay took one look at the flowers at burst out laughing. A large, booming laugh you wouldn't have expected from someone his age. "I take it one of these ladies got the bouquet of hate yesterday?" Joan nodded her head in the direction of Artemis. "Well thank you. It made all our day to hear that story."

"Is he working here today, the guy who served Artemis yesterday?", Zatanna cut in, completely ignoring the horrified, "Zee!", that came from Artemis.

Joan and Jay exchanged a look. Joan spoke,"I'm afraid not. Wallace doesn't actually work here, he stepped in yesterday to give us a day off for our wedding anniversary."

"Oh, congratulations.", Zee managed to smile, her hopes of setting Artemis up with a good man for once seemingly dashed. The man, Jay, seemed to notice Zatanna's disappointment though, and raised a questioning eyebrow at his wife. The woman, Joan, cleared her throat drawing their attention back to the flowers.

"These tulips are variegated tulips, as they have this lovely feathered pattern on the petals. They mean 'you have beautiful eyes'.", she said, with the tiniest hint of embarrassment.

She wasn't the only one feeling embarrassed, as Artemis' cheeks flushed pink at the sound of Zatanna's loud squeal. Sometimes Zee was super girly and it always threw Artemis a little off. Feeling her face grow increasingly hotter, Artemis stammered out a small 'thanks', turned around and practically ran out the shop. Zee looked at the place her best friend had once stood, then to the still open door, then back to the owners of the shop.

"I'm sorry for Artemis.", she said, surprised by the other girls reaction. "If you see, um, Wallace? Can you tell him thanks?"

Jay laughed, as if everything that had just happened was perfectly normal. "Don't worry miss. These things have a way of working themselves out."

Zatanna nodded, a little thrown by Jay's strange comment, and ran after her friend, almost colliding with Tuppence, Louise and Crystal on her way out of the shop.

 **–-~-**

Artemis refused to even go anywhere near the direction of the florists for the next week. A somewhat tricky feat as her sister's apartment was on the same block and Jade had been asking her to babysit a lot lately. Not that she minded, her niece Lian was at the stage where Artemis was her most favourite person and no one else could compete. It was great to have Lian over, especially as it meant that she didn't have to talk to Cameron who was still trying to convince her there was nothing going on between him and Tuppence, and Zatanna, who was trying to get Artemis to at least start looking for dates even if she wasn't going to go for flower guy. None of this changed the fact she still needed a date for the wedding, but as long as Lian was round she could at least put it off. After all, why bother looking for a date when you can bake sugar cookies, or play with modelling clay? In fact they were so busy finger painting that when Artemis' phone buzzed she just automatically ignored it, lost to her painting of a tiger- her best work yet if she said so herself. So when the door went Artemis assumed it was Jade or Roy being early. She didn't expect Megan to fly into the room in a panic with what Artemis recognised as Megan's wedding folder and some very rushed apologies for not giving her more notice but that she didn't know what to do, and something that sounded suspiciously like, "Is Zatanna here yet?"

"Woah Megan, calm down. What's happened?", Artemis asked, closing the door so Lian wouldn't run out.

"Didn't you get Zee's text?"

"No. Maybe. I've been busy this afternoon.", Art motioned to her paint covered clothes. Megan's eyes went wide and apologies started to spill from her.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realise you had Lian. I wouldn't have asked everyone to come round if I'd known."

"Wait, everyone?"

They were interrupted by a very energetic Lian bounding from the kitchen, her finger painting held proudly in her hands as she presented it to her aunt. Megan was quickly distracted from her own problems and proceeded to coo in delight at the splotchy pink and purple cat picture. Lian shyly proceeded to drag Megan around the paint splattered kitchen, showing off everything they'd done all afternoon. Part way through Lian motioning to a mostly eaten plate of sugar cookies, asking Megan to try one, the front door went again and Artemis had to leave her friend and her niece to their own devices for a moment. As if in answer to her silent prayers, Jade stood on her doorstep, shadowed closely by Zatanna and Karen. Ushering them all inside Artemis addressed Zatanna and Karen first.

"Megan's already here. She's in the kitchen with Lian." She then turned to her sister and said, "Sorry, I lost track of time, I'll get Lian washed up and ready to go."

Jade shrugged and nodded to the gaggle of girls in the kitchen. "What's going on?"

Artemis rolled her eyes. "I have no idea. Guess it's my own fault for ignoring my phone. We won't be long, there's cookies in the kitchen. Lian? Can you come here a minute?", she called out, scooping up her niece and 'flying' her to the bathroom.

It didn't take long before Lian and Artemis had gotten all the paint off themselves and Lian was zipping back through to the kitchen to show her mom everything she'd done that afternoon. Artemis followed at a slower pace, wanting to delay whatever drama had happened now. She didn't expect Megan and Jade of all people to be pouring over something in a notebook.

"And if you move them to that table that should stop any arguments."

"Oh my gosh, thank you so much for your help Jade.", Megan gushed, her eyes wide and roaming over what Artemis guessed was the seating plan. Jade shrugged off the thanks.

"It's your wedding. Please yourself first, your husband second and everyone else after that."

Megan blushed, and tried to thank Artemis' sister again but Jade was already picking up Lian and giving Art a quick peck on the cheek before sauntering out of the apartment with a feline grace that if Artemis hadn't grown up with her, she would swear Jade put on on purpose. Sadly it was natural and if it was hereditary Artemis felt she'd missed out on those genes.

Artemis shook her head at her sisters actions, seriously hoping she wasn't giving her niece any bad habits, and turned her attention to the group that had taken over her kitchen.

"So, what's the dilemma?", Artemis asked.

"Actually, Jade's sorted it.", Megan admitted sheepishly. "Conner's friend, Dick, broke up with his long term girlfriend and only told me today. So I panicked because the seating was all sorted and the wedding party had been arranged and I really thought it would take us all night to rearrange everything."

Zatanna butted in, "Wait, are you calling someone a dick? Cause that's so unlike you..."

"Oh, no. His name is Dick. It's short for Richard but no one ever calls him that."

"What happened between him and his girl?", Karen asked, having met the couple and being curious as to what could split them up.

"Dick won't talk about it.", Megan replied, a frown forming. "Conner said he kinda deserved it and whenever I asked Wally, he just laughed and wouldn't stop."

"So who's Dick bringing to the wedding?", Karen questioned. Megan shook her head.

"I don't know. I don't know if Barbara is still coming either. I hope she will but apparently her and Dick are not talking at all."

"Speaking of dates, who are you bringing Artemis? Seeing as you and Cameron have now split.", Zatanna questioned with a calculated but restrained glee. Megan and Karen looked at her in surprise.

"You didn't tell me you and Cameron had split up.", Megan said sadly. Artemis looked at the wedding plan with a little apprehension, she didn't want to undo all of Jade's hard work.

"Yeah, it's no biggie. I was thinking of asking this guy I work with, Kal, to see if he wanted to go. We're pretty good friends and he could probably do with a night out, meet some new people."

"That sounds like a plan.", Karen said with a small smile. She must've known about Cameron cheating on her Artemis thought bitterly to herself.

"Okay, so. For the wedding rehearsal then. Karen and Mal will go first, then Raquel and Garfield, then Zatanna and Tim, then Artemis and Dick. My uncle John's agreed to walk me down the aisle. Your partners will be seated at the front of the church, behind where you'll stand.", Megan cut through Artemis' depressing thoughts, almost as if she could sense her friend was getting herself down, and they proceeded to discuss wedding plans late into the night.


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note: Hi folks, sorry for the sporadic updates and sorry this is a little on the short side. Thanks to everyone who is following, commenting and reading. Hope y'all enjoy Megan's wedding.**

 **-~-**

The day of the wedding arrived with a small pang of regret from Artemis. It was hard not to think of all the time she'd spent with Cameron on a day when love was being celebrated. She felt a little hollow inside. When she was only a few years younger, she'd once thought that her and Cameron were meant to be forever, they'd grown up together, been each others first kiss, first date, first everything. She'd never thought of her life without Cameron in it. A while back she would've been furious to consider it, it's funny how things change.

Instead she stood a little off to the side and tried to distract herself by watching as Diana, a friend of Megan's uncle, pinned the last few strands of Megan's shoulder length hair into a classy up-do. Her own long blonde hair had been arranged into a series of braids that pulled all the hair off her face but still allowed her long locks to flow freely behind her. She looked more like a warrior than a bridesmaid, but no one could deny she suited it.

The bridesmaid dresses were a floor length a line style in black but with accents of different colours in the bodice. Karen's was intertwined with gold, Zatanna's white, Raquel's a dark blue and her own a deep green. Megan's dress was of a similar style, but the traditional white, with small hints of red on the bodice and white jewels speckled throughout her blue veil. An unusual choice to be sure, but Artemis privately thought that it made Megan look like she carried the stars in her hair. Karen and Zatanna sipped on some prosecco chatting quietly while Raquel patiently tried to apply her fake eyelashes. Artemis didn't feel like drinking anything before the ceremony and was beginning to feel too nervous to eat. Needing something to do, she pulled out her phone and shot off a quick text to her workmate Kal, apologising for abandoning him through most of the ceremony and that she'd buy him lunch on Monday to make up for it.

A small knock sounded at the door as Megan's uncle popped his head into the room to let them all know the car was waiting for them. A collective knot of excitement formed between the girls as they all took a moment to reflect on what was happening. Despite an ugly fight in high school which lead to a 5 year break up, Megan Morse and Conner Kent were finally tying the knot after a chance meeting brought them back together. It was the type of romance you read about, full of ups and downs and misunderstandings, but with a reconciliation and a happily ever after. And it was real.  
Artemis could see Karen getting teary eyed at the thought and quickly linked arms with her, pulling her towards the car. Diana stopped them all before they got too far.

"Wait, where are the flowers?"

Megan's head shot up as she looked to her uncle for help. His steady, even voice soothed over all of the girls before one of them could get worked up into a panic.

"Stay calm Megan, I'm sure they'll be here soon. Let me phone Barry to see where they are."

Artemis moved to Megan's side, trying to offer a little comfort as best she could. "Hey, don't worry about it. Jade says there's always something that goes wrong at a wedding, if this is it then it's not the end of the world."

Megan had turned an interesting shade of green, a result of her nerves no doubt. Artemis rubbed the bride to be's shoulder but felt at a loss on what else to say. Thankfully, for both Artemis and Megan's sakes, Diana took pity on the young women.

"Artemis is right. Even though I'm sure Barry is on his way, if he's running late it's not the end of the world. Because today you and Conner will meet at that altar and in the end that's all that matters." Megan nodded, still unconvinced. Directing them to some seats and handing them all another glass of prosecco and strawberries, Diana tried to lighten the mood. "Do you want me to tell you the story of the most disastrous wedding I ever attended?"

Megan laughed, a more natural colour returning to her cheeks. "I'm sure that's not necessary. Besides, unless there was an even worse wedding- I'm pretty sure I was there."

Diana shared a grin with the bride to be, "Then you'll not need me to remind you that there are much worse things that can happen than the flowers running late."  
Megan nodded and twisted the skin on her finger where her wedding band would go. "You probably think I'm being silly."  
"No.", Diana firmly interrupted. "I think you're nervous and there's nothing wrong with that, this is an important day and there's nothing wrong with wanting things to be perfect. Now, I believe I hear Barry's car, wait here a second and I'll be back with your flowers."

Sure enough, only moments later Diana and a familiar red head bustled into the room, arms full of white and peach roses. The moment Artemis and the red head locked eyes they both let out a startled, "You!", of recognition. The rest of the room glance between the two confused before Megan speaks up.

"Artemis? Barbara? Have you both met?"

Barbara's face splits into a grin. "Did you hear about how me and Dick split up?"

Megan shook her head. "None of the guys would tell me."

"Well, Dick was being a dick..."

"I'm sure there will be time for this later.", Diana interrupted. "The car is waiting."

"And I'd better get back to Wally. Thanks for still letting me come Megan, it's great to see you.", Barbara said quietly, hugging the other red headed woman tightly. "See you at the church."

Diana motioned for the girls to make their way to the wedding cars, but Zatanna kept glancing towards were Barbara had taken her exit.

They reached the venue with time to spare, Conner waiting for his soon to be wife with his older brother at the altar, and Megan turning that interesting shade of green with nerves again. Although Karen and Raquel had already met the guys, introductions were quickly made between Zatanna, Artemis and the rest of the wedding party. Mal was a good buffer for Artemis, having gone on a number of dates with herself and Cameron when they were together, and was the first person to actually congratulate Artemis on her finally getting rid of that 'overbearing idiot'. Garfield was Megan's little brother and was instantly shy around so many new people, although with a little conversation seemed to be really interested in animals and conservation efforts around the world. Tim and Dick turned out to be brothers, and both were vaguely obnoxious if Artemis was totally honest. Tim's obnoxiousness could possibly be be waved off as him being a child (in Artemis' eyes) and from the bad influence of his older brother. Dick, Artemis instantly recognised as the jerk from the restaurant she and Cameron had broken up at, and made Artemis a little uncomfortable in the way he instantly turned the charm on when he heard both she and Zatanna were single- seriously, he even openly flirted with both girls in front of the other. Artemis was really disappointed to see a look of envy in not just Tim's eyes, but Garfield's too- he'd seemed like a sweet boy. She was also somewhat worried at the way Zee seemed to eat up the attention this Dick was giving her, but wasn't given much time to dwell on it music started up, signalling for them to take up their positions and start their march to the altar. Dick smiled as he linked arms with Artemis and she had to admit that he had really pretty eyes, not breathtaking but they were definitely nice to look at. Plus he cut a really fine figure in a suit. Together they looked good, and they gave the distinct impression that they both knew it subconsciously on some level, so when they entered the venue on each others arms everyone had their eyes on them. Well almost everyone.

Artemis had instinctively looked for Kal, hoping to flash him an apologetic smile for leaving him on his own, but was distracted by her partner tensing up beside her. Glancing at the man on her arm she was surprised to find him scowling, at her date? No, he was staring at the couple behind Kal, the red headed girl Barbara leaning closely into… flower guy?

Kal had turned to talk to the two of them and had finally noticed a confused looking Artemis, next to a tense Dick Grayson, and he sent her a reassuring smile, hoping to convey the message that he'd met some old friends and hadn't been left to a room full of strangers. But Artemis didn't notice that. All she could see was the red headed guy from the flower shop, turning to look at her, their eyes locking in a moment of recognition that seemed to stop time, before his polite smile slid into that somewhat unhinged grin she'd become surprisingly familiar with in their short time together in the flower shop. The spell was broken when flower guy turned his attention back to Kal, answering some unheard question with a roguish grin and a waggle of an eyebrow that seemed to set Barbara into giggles. Artemis didn't want to admit it, but it kinda stung to see flower guy fling an arm around the red headed woman's shoulders and pull her into a half hug. Turning her attention away she caught Zatanna's eye and immediately distrusted the calculating glint in her eye. Redirecting her focus to her partner, she was shocked to see he was still glaring at the two red headed guests. But there wasn't time to focus on that as it was time for them to separate, stand in their positions and wait out that tense heartbeat for Megan to make her grand entrance into the church.

The service was everything it should be, a blushing bride, lots of tears and happy well wishes to the couple. The wedding party was pulled away for photographs and the rest of the guests moved on to the reception after a massive group shot of all the guests. Artemis smiled for the photographs but allowed herself moments between shots to mull over what she'd seen in the church. She couldn't out and out ask what the issue was between Dick, Flower guy and Barbara was, but curiosity was eating away at her. Zatanna, noticing Artemis was off to the side a little, slid up beside her as Conner and Megan were getting a couple of shots done with family and slyly grinned.

"What?", Artemis bit out distractedly, no real venom in her tone.

"So, you and Dick Grayson, walking down the aisle together, looking fine. Girl I'm jealous."

"Why? He honestly lives up to his name. I mean, who flirts with two girls at the same time?"

"Oh honey, you can forgive him a little flirting. He's been in the spotlight since he was nine, he's been bred to charm the paparazzi.", Zatanna waved it off. "Why do you seem so off anyway? Something's bugging you."

Artemis sighed. "Flower guy is here. With the red head that brought in the flowers, Barbara?"

Zatanna gasped and nodded. "Grayson's ex. Ugh, why didn't I get it sooner. The couple in the flower shop said his name was Wallace. Wally must be a nickname. You'd think we'd have figured it out a lot quicker, I mean it's hardly a normal name, Wallace. Oh, but this is great news, if you're not interested hooking up with Dick, you could always have a shot at Wally."

"But he's with Barbara."

"Just as a date for the wedding, there's nothing to say they're a couple. Besides, Dick did actually bring someone to the wedding but he's been flirting with both of us. And people do bring friends as dates to weddings Art, unless there's something going on with you and Kal?"

Artemis scowled in place of actually arguing with her friend, causing the slightly younger girl to laugh, knowing she'd won the point.

"Besides, if you don't want a shot of Mr. Dick Grayson, I'll gladly take it for you."

Artemis snorted, but Zatanna persisted. "Oh come on. His date's as fake as anything! No one's hair is naturally that long **and** thick, plus her boobs have to be fake. And don't get me started on her fake tan, Gods she's more orange than kumquat."

Artemis blinked in surprise. "Zee? Are you okay? You're never normally this… critical."

"Sorry, it's just... I met her once, a long time ago. She bet me to an audition that I really wanted for a modelling job, sure I love doing my stage shows, Vegas is awesome, but it was at that show we'd both auditioned for that really boosted her career."

"Ah, you're wondering what could have been."

"A little."

"Well, I'm sitting with her at dinner and I will be glad to tell you any embarrassing things she does. Deal?"

Zatanna's smile grew wider. "Could you also put in a good word with Dick?"

"I don't think I'll need to.", Artemis deadpanned. "Guy thinks with his namesake."

Zatanna giggled, "And you think that's an issue."  
"It is if it's as small as his mind.", Artemis shot back, holding back some giggles of her own. It was a valiant effort but the two girls quickly started laughing, causing some of the other guests to look at them in surprise and a few very interesting looking photographs.


End file.
